Boris Johnson, don't read this: there's a European commercial hub
that promotes bicycling as the main mode of transportation. It is, in
fact, embarking on a plan to build a network around bikes and
pedestrians, linking car-free roads to parks and playgrounds, from the
city centre to the suburbs.

Welcome to Hamburg, an environmental pioneer in the mould of its regional neighbour Copenhagen.
Its planned green network will cover 40% of the city's area. "It will
connect parks, recreational areas, playgrounds, gardens and cemeteries
through green paths", Angelika Fritsch, a spokeswoman for the city's
department of urban planning and the environment, tells Guardian Sustainable Business. "Other cities,
including London, have green rings, but the green network will be
unique in covering an area from the outskirts to the city centre. In 15
to 20 years you'll be able to explore the city exclusively on bike and
foot." The green network will even connect animal habitats, enabling
critters to crisscross the city without risk of being run over. Perhaps
more importantly, the network will absorb CO2 emissions and help prevent
floods when inevitable superstorms strike.

"Hamburg has always
been a green city with lots of parks", notes Jens Kerstan, leader of the
Green Party in Hamburg's state parliament. "The green network makes
sense from a climate change
adaptation perspective, especially since our residents are quite
progressive when it comes to climate change adaptation. Many Hamburgers
are willing to give up their cars, which is very unusual in Germany."

Climate
change will, in fact, leave cities little choice but to develop plans
like the green network. Fritsch points out that thanks to its sea winds,
Hamburg is better positioned to combat warmer temperatures than, say,
Berlin. But increasing temperatures are already affecting this North Sea
metropolis as well. "Today the average annual temperature is nine
degrees Celsius, 1.2 degrees more than it was 60 years ago", reports Dr
Insa Meinke, director of the North German Climate Bureau at the Institut für Küstenforschung
(Institute of Coastal Research). "When we have a cold winter there are
always people saying, 'so where's your climate change now?', but the
cold winters are simply fluctuations." According to data from the
Institute for Coastal Research, Hamburg had five hot (above 30 degrees
Celsius) summer days last year, compared to two in 1952.

Climate
change is already affecting the port city's water level as well.
"Compared to 60 years ago, the sea level here has risen by 20
centimetres", explains Meinke. "As a large city, Hamburg is truly at
risk. Storm surges could rise by another 30 to 110 centimetres by 2100."
Hamburg, in other words, needs its green network because it will help
limit the effects of floods.

There are benefits to tackling
climate change early on. Cities know that if they make themselves
greener and more pedestrian-and-bike-friendly, they'll attract more of
the people they need to remain competitive. According to Fritsch, given
that residents – especially children, the elderly and the ill – will
suffer when temperatures rise, making the city climate as comfortable as
possible is "very important in order to provide quality of life for our
residents looking ahead to 2050". Dr Sven Schulze, an analyst at the Hamburg Institute of International Economics
(HWWI), notes that the green network could take up space that's needed
for housing and businesses, but "on the other hand, it brings economic
advantages because it attracts highly educated and competent people to
the city."

That's, of course, a recipe successfully pioneered by
Copenhagen. But unlike Copenhagen, Hamburg hasn't got very far in
implementing its grand design. "The green network is an excellent idea,
but we're still in the early stages", notes Kerstan. "The visionary
thinking is done by the civil servants, not by the politicians currently
in charge. Ever since Fukushima, the focus in Germany has been on
moving away from nuclear power, not on climate change adaptation."

Currently
some 30 city staff are developing the green network, aided by personnel
in the city's seven districts. When politicians make the green web a
priority, it will be an extensive network indeed, covering some 7,000
hectares. And Fritsch's team envisions a network that doesn't just help
residents get from point A to point B in a sustainable fashion. "It will
offer people opportunities to hike, swim, do water sports, enjoy
picnics and restaurants, experience calm and watch nature and wildlife
right in the city", she explains. "That reduces the need to take the car
for weekend outings outside the city, which further reduces the damage
to the environment."

Modern city life: walking, biking, watching
nature right where you live. Climate change is already generating a
surprising mix of futuristic and back-to-nature solutions."